The Peacekeepers

Part Two; Chapter Eighteen

The Crimson Tattoo

They came a few minutes after Gideon and I finished our shift and had started playing poker outside the base. There was an attack on the compound. A force of about twenty Fallen Kings. They managed to kill the guards at the gate and a few others. Sheamas, Gideon and myself were the last ones to arrive. We say the bodies of fallen brothers before us. More people you bastards killed.

"These can't be Fallen Kings! They just can't! There's no way they could kill this many of us!" Sheamas cried out. He's distraught at the sight but he knows he can't afford to show it.

Our guys took some of the bastards with them though. Only eleven of the Fallen Kings were still breathing and ready to fight. They saw us running toward them and they yelled and sprinted at us in their drugged out fury. Some were armed with baseball bats, chains and other homemade weapons.

But behind them was one man standing there watching them. His face, emotionless. His eyes pierced my soul and felt like it tore it out. I felt... terror. Sheer terror in his presence. I had to brush this off quick because the real fighting was about to begin.

A baseball bat was being swung right at my face. I'm fast enough to duck under it and it hit another guy rushing me from the side, knocking his teeth out of his head. I get up close and uppercut the guy with the baseball bat. His teeth clatter together and he stumbles back and hits the ground.

I catch Gideon and Sheamas fighting out of the corner of my eye. Sheamas picks two of them up at once, slams them into each other, drops them and goes to work on a few more of them as Gideon is breaking arms, necks and jaws with his massive hands. Most of my fighting was two punches for each one I came across, knocking these losers out cold or kicks that shattered ribs and hips. This seemed like no problem for me. Broke a few arms too. One that I broke had completely contorted around with his palm and elbow facing the front of his body. His skin stretched and twisted around the shattered remnants of his arm. It's safe to say he's done fighting for a while.

All that was left was this one freaky guy watching us fight. I could see the crooked smile on his face and a bright red tattoo on his right cheek. It was just a simple letter "C". He seems so calm. I have a really bad feeling about this guy.

Three Peacekeepers pushed their way past us and rushed the tattooed man all at once. "Kill this fucker!" One of them shouted as he pushed past. They all lunged as they were about to attack him. He smiled ear to ear. Oh God... He's going to kill them all.

"No! Don't try to fight him!" I shouted at the top of my lungs but it was to no avail. It was too late for them. I knew they were out of their league. They were all going to die. A pit formed where my stomach used to be. I couldn't intervene. I was too late.

It seemed like time slowed down for a minute. The first Peacekeeper threw a punch at the tattooed man. He dodged it and punched the Peacekeeper in the sternum. I'm about twenty yards away and I can hear the cracking of his sternum. He flew back and starting wheezing for air once his body hit the ground. He moved with such speed and grace it was unbelievable. He had fluidly swayed behind another Peacekeeper and effortlessly snapped his neck. The last Peacekeeper got his windpipe crushed by the knife edge of the attacker's hand. I've never seen anyone that fast before! This guy was not human. I'm completely dumbfounded. I can't think. I can't move.

"So these are the mighty Peacekeepers I've heard about." He spoke in a low, silent and ghastly voice. "How pathetic."

Sheamas and Gideon are on either side of me now. Staring blankly at this man as I am. I look over and see the rage filling Sheamas' eyes and face. The Peacekeepers are like his children. He'd kill or die for any one of them. I think he's leaning more toward killing in this situation though.